PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 
495 
of has investigations foe claim's ito have found definite organs of 
sense in certain cases. That is to say, foe has found and examined 
a number of plants, as we might examine animals, for organs for 
the reception of the 'sensations of touch, and he asserts (that he 
has found complete analogy in many instances between plants 
and animals in their sensitiveness to contact.” 
It is not necessary for me to follow Mr. Nuttall in the observa- 
tion which he makes upon die possession of organs such as that 
of touch in at least some plants as, for example, the Passion 
flower, the sensitive plant, the Venus fly trap, in plants which 
are what we call climbers, whose tendrils are as sensitive at least 
as the tentacles of the sea-urchin. Tendrils are, he says, like our 
finger tips, reaching ont into the world to place the individual in 
its environment. During their time of growth they move in 
continuous circles round and round seeking with sensitive surface 
for some support for the plant in its upward climb, and once they 
come into contact with a solid body the measure of their twining 
is the measure of their sensitiveness. In addition to this, and 
the many instances which Mr. Nuttall gives of the sensitiveness 
of plants, he declares that they are able to transmit a stimulus 
from one part of their structure to another part. In animals this 
is, of course, done through the nervous system ; the plants have 
no known nervous system. The idea is now refuted or out- 
grown 'that it can be through the cellular system, as each cell is 
distinct of itself, and his conclusion is that the protoplasm of a 
plant, continuous through the entire plant, is die medium of 
transmission, the contents of each cell being connected with 
those of the adjacent cells by very fine strands which pass 
through the walls of die cells in every direction. Hence, he 
says, a plant possesses a complete inner structure of protoplasm 
hidden within its outer walls, and we have no difficulty in under- 
standing that a stimulus can be carried from one part to another 
just as nerves carry sensation, for after all what is our nervous 
system but protoplasm modified in a very special way. 
In regard to this, it is well to remember that this view some- 
what differs from and disagrees with the recognized theory that 
there is a central organ — the brain — which diffuses consciousness 
throughout- die system, that in whatever part of 'the body sensa- 
